Last Moments of a World

Last Moments of a World is the true story of a girl's coming of age in pre-war Shanghai. Margaret lives with her parents and her siblings Luke, Jane, and Veronica in a large house on Dixwell Road, in Shanghai's International Concession. Part Chinese and part European, Margaret has an understanding of both cultures because of her special relationships with the servants, such as her nanny, Baby-Amah, and the cook, Dahsoo. But the servant who is to become her special friend is Ah-May, the young daughter of Small Amah. Ah-May, although uneducated, has great common sense and it is to her that Margaret turns when she is troubled. When war breaks out in Shanghai, Margaret's comfortable life is changed forever. Margaret and her family adapt, but she must eventually decide whether life in post-revolutionary Shanghai is for her. This book is full of memorable characters and incidents which show how life was in Old Shanghai, the city once known as "The Paris of the East". It was chosen as a Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection in 1980.